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for the behaviour of those who were placed under the division to which he belonged.

Such a regular distribution of the people, with such a strict confinement in their habitations, may not be necessary in times when men are more inured to obedience and justice; and it might perhaps be regarded as destructive of liberty and commerce in a polished state; but it was well calculated to reduce that fierce and licentious people under the salutary restraint of law and government. But Alfred took care to temper these rigours by other institutions favourable to the freedom of the citizens; and nothing could be more popular and liberal than his plan for the administration of justice. The tithingman summoned together his whole tithing to assist him in deciding any lesser difference which occurred among the members of this small community. In affairs of greater moment, the cause was brought before the hundred, which consisted of a hundred families of freemen, and which was regularly assembled once in four weeks for the deciding of causes. Their method of decision deserves to be noted, as being the origin of juries; an institution, admirable in itself, and the best calculated for the preservation of liberty, and the administration of justice, that ever was devised by the wit of man. Twelve freeholders were chosen; who, having sworn, together with the hundreder, or presiding magistrate of that division, to administer impartial justice, proceeded to the examination of that cause which was submitted to their jurisdiction. And besides these monthly meetings of the hundred, there was an annual meeting, appointed for a more general inspection of the police of the district.

The next superior court to that of the hundred was the county-court, which met twice a year, after Michaelmas and Easter, and consisted of the freeholders of the county, who possessed an equal vote in the decision of causes. The bishop presided in this court, together with the alderman; and the proper object of the court was the receiving of appeals from

the hundreds and tithings, and the deciding of such controversies as arose between men of different hundreds. Formerly, the alderman possessed both the civil and military authority; but Alfred, sensible that this conjunction of powers rendered the nobility dangerous and independent, appointed also a sheriff in each county, who enjoyed an equal authority with the former in the judicial function. His office also impowered him to guard the rights of the crown in the county, and to levy the fines imposed; which in that age formed no contemptible part of the public

revenue.

There lay an appeal, in default of justice from all these courts, to the king himself in council; and as the people, sensible of the great talents of Alfred, placed their chief confidence in him, he was soon overwhelmed with appeals from all parts of England. He was indefatigable in the dispatch of these causes; but finding that his time must be entirely engrossed by this branch of duty, he resolved to obviate the inconvenience, by correcting the ignorance or corruption of the inferior magistrates, from which it arose.

The better to guide the magistrates in the administration of justice, Alfred framed a body of laws; which, though now lost, served long as a basis of English jurisprudence, and is generally deemed the origin of what is denominated the COMMON LAW. He appointed regular meetings of the states of England twice a year in London; a city which he himself had repaired and beautified, and which he thus rendered the capital of the kingdom. The similarity of these institutions to the customs of the ancient Germans, to the practice of the other northern conquerors, and to some ancient laws which prevailed in England, prevents us from regarding Alfred as the sole author of this plan of Government; and leads us rather to think, that like a wise man, he contented himself with reforming, extending, and executing the institutions which he found previously established. But, on the whole, such success attended his legislation, that every thing bore suddenly a new face in

England robberies and iniquities of all kinds were repressed by the punishment or reformation of the criminals and so exact was the general police, that Alfred, it is said, hung up, by way of bravado, golden bracelets near the highways; and no man dared to touch them. Yet, amidst these rigours of justice, this great prince preserved the most sacred regard to the liberty of his people; and it is a memorable sentiment preserved in his will, that it was just the English should for ever remain as free as their own thoughts.

This great monarch died in the year 901, after a glorious reign of twenty-nine years and a half; leaving a reputation which will never decay while there is an English heart to feel, or tongue to speak, his worth.

K.

BATTLE OF HASTINGS.

IN the earlier periods of English history there are many events of an interesting character, but none more important in its consequences than the battle of Hastings. It not only placed the crown of England upon the head of a foreign invader, whose pretensions had no foundation in the choice of the people, or in lineal inheritance, but it led to a change in the institutions established for the protection of the people's liberties, and reduced the greater part of the population to oppression and slavery, which required cen

turies to remove.

In those ages of war and commotion, the King was necessarily a soldier; or, if he did not possess the qualities of a warrior, his ambitious nobles, or the neighbouring princes, were sure to make inroads upon the domestic tranquillity of the nation, and endanger the safety of his throne. Harold, who wielded the sceptre of England, at the time of the Norman invasion, had acquired the sovereignty by a course of

dexterous intrigue, and dishonest practices. He had no claim by right of blood; but the supineness of Edward the Confessor, whom he succeeded, and the long absence and misfortunes of the true heir, Edgar Atheling, afforded him the opportunity of concerting his schemes, and arranging his plans, for immediate execution, when the moment arrived for an open avowal of his designs.

Harold was a brave and skilful soldier, and possessed many qualities befitting the station to which he aspired. He began his reign by several popular acts of government, which won upon the people's affections; and there is every reason to presume, that had he been permitted to enjoy his crown without molestation, the nation would have been more prosperous and happy under his sway, than it was when subjected to the dominion of his rival. But the late King had cherished a regard for the Normans, and many of the ecclesiastical benefices had been given to the priests from that country; so that the interest which Harold was cultivating by his policy, was met by the prejudices which were excited against him as a usurper, and by the predilections of the clergy.

William, Duke of Normandy, a province of France, was well informed of all these proceedings, and determined to prosecute the enterprise which it was known he had for some time contemplated. It is said that Edward had named him in his will as his successor; and though that document could not be found, the story seems probable, from the intimacy which subsisted between them. He therefore made a formal demand of the crown, which, being answered by a peremptory and rather contemptuous refusal, both parties prepared to decide the dispute by force of arms.

The politic Norman having obtained the approbation of the Pope, a point of great importance in any undertaking of this kind, when the minds of the people were enslaved by Romish superstition, set sail from St. Valery, in the year 1066, on the eve of

the feast of St. Michael, the tutelary saint of the Normans. He landed without opposition, the next day, at Pevensey, in Sussex, having lost in his passage only two small vessels, that were overladen. Having disembarked his army and stores, he sent back his ships to Normandy, in order that his troops, finding that they had no hope but in victory, might fight with the greater desperation; then marching to Hastings, in Sussex, he erected a fortification, and published a specious manifesto, containing his reasons for undertaking this enterprise, and setting forth the offences of Harold, whom he declared he was anxious to punish with the assistance of the English.

The King was at York when he first heard of this invasion. He immediately put his army in motion, and encamped within seven miles of Hastings, where his enemy was posted. An attempt was made to settle their differences by negociation, with little sincerity on either part, and it only tended to exasperate their mutual animosity.

The night preceding the battle was passed in a manner very different from each other, by the two armies. William enjoined his men to observe the strictest sobriety, and ordered that they should employ themselves in acts of devotion; while, on the other hand, the troops of Harold, flushed with recent successes against the Norwegians, which they held to be an augury of further victory, gave themselves up to riot and confusion. But this did not appear to have enervated them in the contest; their defeat was owing to the ardour of their temperament, which led them into the snares of their opponents.

Harold, far inferior in the number of his forces, resolved not to lose any advantage in the ground, and accordingly took up an excellent position. The Kentish men, armed with pikes, halberts, and targets, formed the van. The Londoners had the honour of being placed near the King's person, and formed the main body of his army. Harold and his two brothers, Gyrth and Leofwine, placed themselves in the centre, and disdaining any indulgence that was not shared by the meanest soldier, fought on foot.